Expedite Indo-EU FTA, hike TUF funds: R. Mandawewala, Welspun

Currently India faces a 9-10% duty disadvantage in Europe as compared Pakistan and Bangladesh. Also, transaction costs in India are high. In order to ensure that we remain competitive, the Government must expedite the India – EU FTA and provide appropriate benefits to the industry under the Market Linked Focus Product Scheme (MLFPS). We believe the TUF allocation also needs to be increased in order to provide more timely payments to the industry. On the labour side, the policy needs to be made more flexible. This will help the textile manufacturing industry to be more agile and better adjust to the seasonality of demand. Incentives for training and providing housing to workers should also be given. The Interest Rate subvention should be allowed to continue.